The first readings in memory of I. I. Potekhin, the founder of the Institute of Africa of the USSR Academy of Sciences, were held on October 3, 2006 and were devoted to the history of the creation and activities of the Africa Department at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

The readings were opened by the Director of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member. RAS A. M. Vasiliev. He focused on the special role of science in socio-political and economic development, recalling that scientific schools and scientific traditions have been formed for decades and give an incomparable effect on the development of society, the state, and their economic growth. This is how Russian and Soviet science was formed in the 30-80s of the XX century, which provided the Soviet Union with strategic security and military-political parity with the West thanks to outstanding achievements in the fundamental branches of mathematics, physics, and chemistry. During that period of rapid flourishing of science, the first major department dealing with the problems of the Black Continent was founded - the Africa Department as part of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by Doctor of Historical Sciences Ivan Izosimovich Potekhin, an enthusiast for the study of African peoples. In the USSR, an active study of sub-Saharan African societies, their culture, history, and economic conditions of existence began. However, the" reforms " of the 1990s had a devastating impact on the entire Russian science, including African studies.

Further, A. M. Vasiliev described the challenges facing African studies in the current difficult economic and socio-cultural conditions. In particular, he noted that, despite the fact that it was possible to preserve the main areas of research, its future is not so bright, since there is no influx of young forces.

The main report "History of the creation and operation of the Africa Department at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences" was delivered by A. B. Davidson. He attributed the creation of the Africa Department at the Institute of Oriental Studies in late 1956 to changes in Soviet foreign policy. They were determined by the rapid process of decolonization of the countries of the East and the desire of the Soviet leadership to cooperate with the countries of Asia and Africa, and in the future - to resist the West. Then, the speaker recalled, the Institute of Oriental Studies received a whole publishing house, a second magazine. The decision of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences to reorganize and expand the Institute of Oriental Studies immediately followed. Among the new departments was the Africa Department, which was allocated more than twenty, as they say, full-time units. But where can I find specialists?

I. I. Potekhin, who had defended his doctoral thesis on Africa a year earlier and worked as Deputy Director of the Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology, agreed to head the Department. Since professional Africanists were then trained only by D. A. Olderogge at the Eastern Faculty of Leningrad University, everyone who was at least somewhat connected with the study of Africa was hired as a staff member. There was an Africa group at the Institute of Ethnography, which included young but already "settled down" R.N. Ismagilov, A. S. Orlov and L. D. Yablochkov, who later became well-known African scientists. But their transfer to the Institute of Oriental Studies, which was headed by the well-known party statesman B. G. Gafurov, for various reasons did not take place. The speaker recalled that the Department of Africa and the African Research Office existed back in the 1930s as part of the Communist University of the Workers of the East (KUTV), but they were dispersed in 1936 - 1937 as a result of the defeat of the Comintern.

A. B. Davidson noted the special role of A. Z. Zusmanovich in the development of the Department of Africa - perhaps the only one who had experience not only in studying the continent, but also in practical work with Africans. Deputy commandant of Budapest in 1945, Lieutenant Colonel of the Soviet Army A. Z. Zusmanovich passed the Great Patriotic War with honor, which did not save him from the Stalinist camps, in which he spent seven years, from 1949 to 1956 (and under the sentence he received 25 years). But in the 1930s, he was working with Africans in Kutva and even managed to defend his dissertation before the war, although not on Africa. Released after rehabilitation from the camp, he was taken to the new Department of Africa, where he became an unofficial deputy to Potekhin, and when the Institute of Africa was founded, he played a significant role in its formation, shaping the main directions of research. Among the staff of the new department, the speaker mentioned Alberto Gonzalez, a Spanish Republican who, after the defeat of the Spanish Republic in the First World War, was a member of the Republican Party.

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during the civil war, he was forced to emigrate to the USSR. He was an interesting, memorable person, but they took him to the department for a simple reason: they thought that Spanish was close to Portuguese, which was spoken by part of colonized Africa.

Currently, the speaker continued, there are four survivors from the original composition of the Africa Department: A. B. Davidson, M. B. Gornung and employees of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences L. A. Demkina and A. S. Pokrovsky. A number of scientists who started their career in African studies with the Department of Africa are still actively working today, although they appeared there a little later. These are, in particular, Yu. N. Vinokurov and A.M. Pegushev, P. I. Kupriyanov and V. L. Sheinis. And perhaps the only specialist in the department with knowledge of African languages at that time was S. L. Milyavskaya, a graduate of the first class (1934) of the Department of African Studies at Leningrad University.

Meanwhile, the head of the department continued to insist on the creation of the Institute of Africa, which was the reason for his quarrel with B. G. Gafurov and his departure from the Institute of Oriental Studies. As a result, Ivan Izosimovich achieved his goal: in 1959, on the eve of the mass liberation of African countries, it was decided to create an institute. In accordance with the order of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, staff units were determined, and a room was allocated in one of the buildings on Gorky Street (now Tverskaya). However, the initiator of the creation of the Institute of Africa had no support in the Presidium of the Academy as a candidate for the post of director. First of all, Academician A. A. Arzumanyan opposed the candidacy of I. I. Potekhin. Therefore, at first the offer to head the emerging institute was made to Doctor of Economic Sciences G. E. Skorov, but he refused. As two other people later refused: they believed that the study of such a backward continent as Africa was an unpromising occupation, it would not bring much success and political and scientific fame, but it would provide trouble. Willy-nilly, the leadership of the Academy of Sciences was forced to accept the candidacy of Ivan Izosimovich.

But Potekhin had undoubted scientific achievements, continued A. B. Davidson. In particular, he was responsible co-editor of the solid volume "Peoples of Africa "(1954), from which, according to many current Africanists, the history of Soviet/Russian African studies began. We can come to this conclusion, the speaker argued, if we look at the bibliography in this really serious book: it only includes works from the late 1940s and early 1950s. However, in fact, the history of our science begins much earlier. The speaker drew the audience's attention to the thoroughly forgotten predecessors who left their mark on the study of the African continent: the Hungarian Africanist Endre Schik (Schijk), whose book "History of Black Africa", published in 1929, became, in fact, a textbook for the authors of "Peoples of Africa"; the son of the chief of the General Staff of Tsarist Russia G. E. Gerngros I. L. Snegireva and a number of other scientists whose research is related to the continent.

A. B. Davidson told the audience unknown facts from the history of African studies related to the names mentioned. G. E. Gerngros published in 1929 a thorough monograph on the British colonies in Black Africa, then two books on the state of the economy in sub-Saharan Africa, which, however, did not save him from being shot in the 1930s I. L. Snegirev in the late 1920s switched from the history of the Middle East to Africa and entered our science as the author of a number of interesting works that were underestimated by the then generation of researchers, and the current generation is not at all familiar with them. Potekhin himself published 25 articles in 1932-1934, but they are also not mentioned in the bibliography of Peoples of Africa: apparently, members of the editorial board were afraid that these articles might be interpreted as pro-bourgeois. Several interesting articles on the ethnography of the peoples of Central Africa in the 1930s were published by a native of Latvia.

A. B. Davidson accompanied his story with a demonstration of these books, which became rarities.

In conclusion, he once again recalled the need to know the history of his science, the names of the people who laid its foundations and, in the most difficult conditions of Stalin's terror, served as best they could to learn about the continent. A. B. Davidson also said that the Center for African Studies headed by him had prepared a three-volume collection of documents on the history of sub-Saharan Africa, two of which that they were published, and the third one is waiting for his turn.

Yu. N. Vinokurov (Institute of Africa) noted that there is a good tradition in Russian African studies to hold interdisciplinary scientific conferences periodically: once every three years - all-Russian (with the participation of foreign scientists), in the two - year period-readings in memory of members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. - correspondent. Academy of Sciences of the USSR D. A. Olderogge, annually - schools of young Africanists. In total, more than 20 such conferences were held. Now they have been added to the reading of the memory of one of the pats-

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riarchs of Soviet African studies-I. I. Potekhina. The first readings are held, the speaker recalled, three years after the scientific conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of I. I. Potekhin, at which it was decided to establish regular Readings in memory of the founder of the Institute of Africa. A special feature of the first readings is their memoir component, memories of the turn of the 50s-60s of the XX century, when the main Moscow African studies centers appeared. One of the most serious problems of Russian African studies, according to Yu. N. Vinokurov, is the continuity of generations. The progressive development of Russian science about Africa, which is so important for understanding the past and present of the multi-million-strong population of the entire continent, and for predicting its future, should not be allowed to be interrupted. Therefore, it is gratifying that along with venerable scientists, students and postgraduates take part in the Readings, even as listeners, who may eventually join the ranks of professional researchers in Africa.

[I. D. Nikiforova] (Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences) told about her first meetings with African writers, with whom she worked as a translator and accompanying person during the World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow in 1957 and in 1958-at the first conference of Asian and African writers.

Former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR and Russia A. M. Glukhoe shared his impressions of communicating with I. I. Potekhin. Then he, a graduate student of MGIMO, I. I. Potekhin proposed the topic of his dissertation "New features of British colonial policy in East Africa", emphasizing at the same time that the former colonialism is dying, going into the past and neocolonialism begins, the essence of which is "leaving Africa, stay in it... We must help Africa in the face of this new threat that really threatens it." In this regard, I. I. Potekhin constantly returned to the question of the need to train qualified specialists for work in African countries as soon as possible, complained - "we are very far behind in this matter" - and pointed out that " some of our institutions - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vneshtorg, the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship with the Peoples of Foreign Countries and others-are already suffocating from the lack of such". Then, at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, MGIMO opened the first groups of Africanists.

Communicating with Ivan Izosimovich when he was a graduate student and after defending his dissertation, A. M. Glukhov became convinced that interest and responsibility were the defining features of Potekhin in working with scientific youth. He sought to instill in graduate students, aspiring scientists and diplomats dedicated to Africa a serious attitude towards the continent, proving that its role in the modern world will grow and therefore African peoples will eventually have a great future. Potekhin was characterized by liveliness, spontaneity, and a sincere desire to involve the interlocutor in African topics. Openness, humor, and a slight amount of self-irony endeared the interlocutors to this serious scientist. Later on, when A. M. Glukhov became the first Soviet diplomat in Lesotho and Swaziland, and when he was the first Soviet ambassador to Mozambique, where he worked for ten years, he was greatly facilitated by the understanding of the situation in these countries and contacts with Africans by the knowledge that he received through communication with I. I. Potekhin.

The head of the Department of African Studies at the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University, N. V. Gromova, spoke about the background of the Department of African Studies at the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University. The Department of African Studies here was established in 1960, when the first students were admitted to the Swahili language group. In fact, this was the beginning of a broad and systematic study of the history, culture, languages and literatures of the peoples of Africa at the university. This was followed by other languages - Amharic, Hausa, Bamana, Fula, Lingala, Malagasy, etc. At the same time, the speaker noted that the department was not created from "nothing": M. V. Lomonosov was interested in African languages in the middle of the XVIII century; at the end of the XIX century, the section on Africa was included in the university course of lectures on land studies, given by the outstanding Russian scientist D. N. Anuchin; materials on the culture of African peoples in the beginning of the XX century. They were used in lectures on general ethnography by V. and N. Kharuzina, and some employees of the natural Department of the University at the same time managed to conduct field studies of fauna in Africa (zoologists I. I. Puzanov, V. V. Troitsky in 1910-1914).

The beginning of the study of modern humanitarian African problems in Moscow was laid by researchers who worked in the 1930s in the African Office of the Research Association of National and Colonial Problems at KUTVa. Linguists G. K. Danilov and P. S. Kuznetsov first started studying African languages, in particular Swahili. Subsequently, Professor P. S. Kuznetsov already taught a special course at the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University

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on the typology of languages with the use of Swahili materials. Historians of the African Cabinet E. Schick, I. I. Potekhin, A. Z. Zusmanovich, F. S. Gaivoronsky and others studied the socio-economic structure of African peoples using ethnographic materials. The Hungarian E. Schick, one of the founders of Soviet African studies, was the first to give lectures on the history of Africa in 1939-1940 at the History Department of Moscow State University. In the 1940s, lectures on Africa at the Faculty of History were part of the course of general ethnography, which was taught by such outstanding scientists as S. P. Tolstov, and then S. A. Tokarev. In the 1950s, information about Africa was included in courses on general history, ethnography, geography, and economic geography taught at various faculties of Moscow State University.

The growing interest in the "third world" countries contributed to the creation in 1956 of the Institute of Oriental Languages at Moscow State University, later renamed the Institute of Asian and African Countries, where the Department of African Studies was organized. The Institute of Africa needed highly qualified specialists in African studies, so the director repeatedly stressed the need to train such specialists at Moscow University. Speaking about the importance of creating the Department of African Studies at Moscow State University, N. V. Gromova pointed out that this event made it possible to expand the range of African problems studied, solving them at a higher scientific level, and train practitioners who speak African languages.

M. Yu.Frenkel (Institute of Africa) spoke about joint editorial work with I. I. Potekhin - editing of I. I. Potekhin's monograph "The Formation of a new Ghana". The speaker also recalled how during his work on the topic "Nigro Worker Magazine and the liberation movement in Africa", he found many evidences in the archives of the Profintern and Comintern that Ivan Izosimovich was one of the founders and leaders of this magazine, and in almost every issue he appeared as an author, signing his articles african pseudonyms. In the personal archive of the scientist, with the help of Hera Ivanovna Potekhina, many copies of this magazine were discovered, which were not in any library in the world. In his memoirs, M. Yu. Frenkel did not ignore the activities of other prominent Africanists of those years - A. Z. Zusmanovich, I. P. Yastrebova, M. V. Wright, A. S. Orlova.

P. I. Kupriyanov (Institute of Africa) devoted his report to the organization of work with graduate students in the Department of Africa. At that time, there was an acute shortage of scientific personnel in Africa. Therefore, the management of the department decided to make the most of the opportunities of postgraduate studies. Five graduate students were enrolled annually. Admission to study was quite strict, and before the exams, applicants were interviewed with I. I. Potekhin or A. Z. Zusmanovich. A. Z. Zusmanovich, who gave lectures on the history of Africa, paid much attention to working with graduate students. They received many useful tips from A. B. Davidson, Yu. V. Lukonin, V. A. Subbotin, and A. Y. Shpirt. Graduate students were immediately included in the life of the department: they were attracted to perform individual tasks, which were very much received at that time from both decision-making bodies and organizations of various kinds, as well as to give lectures on the line of party bodies and the Znanie society.

B. G. Petruk (Institute of Africa) especially noted the merits of I. I. Potekhin in training both domestic and foreign personnel for science, education and the state apparatus, primarily in African states. The Institute of Africa during the directorship of I. I. Potekhin and later made a significant contribution to the training of personnel directly in the African countries themselves. At that time, a number of the Institute's researchers were teaching in higher education institutions in Africa.

The beginning of this activity was laid by I. I. Potekhin, when during his stay in Ghana he visited the Institute for Political and Economic Research, located in Winneba (40 km east of Accra). A little later, it was renamed the " Ideological Institute named after him. Kwame Nkrumah". In early 1964, Nkrumah asked the Soviet leadership to send a philosophy teacher to the Institute. The Ministry of Higher Education was instructed to comply with the request of the Government of Ghana. The choice of the ministry fell on the speaker, who at that time taught philosophy at the Institute of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU. In March 1964, he arrived in Winnebue.

Teachers of the Institute gave lectures, and at the end of the semester they took exams in writing. Since there were no seminars, symposia, or other extracurricular activities, the suggestion of a teacher from the USSR to organize seminars on key topics was positively evaluated by the students and the Institute's directorate. A published by him

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The head of state noticed the article "Socialism and Personality" in the institute's Nkrumaist magazine and instructed the editor of the central government newspaper "Ghanian Times" to reprint it in the newspaper. She went out in two rooms. The editor asked the author to become a regular columnist, and then three or four more articles were published. The Soviet teacher was invited to speak before trade union leaders, at teachers ' meetings, etc. B. G. Petruk remembered one episode that characterized the attitude to revolutionary transformations in the local society. After speaking to the teacher's audience, one of the listeners asked:: "We have a person who does not believe that it is possible to build socialism. Can I beat him with a stick?" I had to remind him of an English proverb: "You can lead a horse to a watering hole, but you can't make it drink water." Only through personal experience should a person be convinced of the advantage of a particular system.

In the summer of 1965, while leaving for the next session of the heads of the Commonwealth, the President ordered all ministers and other senior government officials to attend a course of lectures at the Ideological Institute for ten days. Among the lecturers was a messenger of the Soviet school. In early August 1965, B. G. Petruk continued, the director of the Kojo Edison Institute announced that the Soviet teacher had been appointed chairman of the student selection committee for the 1965/66 academic year. In November, the Council of the Institute, chaired by K. Nkrumah, appointed a representative of the USSR as the dean of the Faculty of Political Science and Law. On December 30, 1965, B. G. Petruk left for Moscow, taking a two-month vacation. And on February 24, 1966, a military coup took place in Ghana. I didn't have to come back from vacation... But a year later I had another chance to meet Kwame Nkrumah: returning to Moscow from Senegal with the then director of the Institute of Africa V. G. Solodovnikov, we stopped by Conakry, where the deposed president of Ghana lived, who was sheltered by the Guinean leader A. Sekou Toure. Ten years later, B. G. Petruk, as part of the Soviet delegation, once again visited Winnebue, talked with the director of the Teachers ' College, who recognized the great role of the Ideological Institute in training personnel.

I. T. Katagoshchina (Institute of Africa), referring to the scientific work of I. I. Potekhin, which included both the problems of political, socio-economic development of African countries, ethnic history, and issues of culture, literature and languages of African peoples, called for a return to a comprehensive study of the continent. In her opinion, it is necessary to restore the largely lost tradition of comprehensive research of the past and present of the peoples of Africa, laid down by the founder of the Institute of Africa. An integrated approach, I. T. Katagoshchina believes, will help to restore a holistic view of the African world, which was torn apart due to the impact of the conjuncture and the isolation of the sciences studying Africa.

A. B. Letnev (Institute of Africa), speaking in the debate, drew the audience's attention to several points. Speaking about the undoubted contribution of a group of aspiring Africanists who worked at the Institute of Oriental Studies in the late 1950s to the development of Russian African studies, he mentioned, in particular, the pioneering works of N. I. Gavrilov, Yu. V. Lukonin, N. V. Pykhtunov and V. A. Subbotin, who initially specialized in the study of the francophone part the continent. All four of them later became reputable specialists, experts in the history and economy of the countries and regions of the continent under study. In this regard, A. B. Letnev called on the audience to return to the development of the problems of future Potekhin readings. After all, I. I. Potekhin was at the same time a historian, ethnographer, agricultural economist, political scientist, sociologist and cultural critic. This solid creative range gives the organizers of the Readings the opportunity to optimize the development of the scientist's heritage, taking into account, on the one hand, the dynamics of the development of African studies over the past half century and the challenges of the XXI century. Personal memories are an integral part of any readings dedicated to the memory of an outstanding contemporary. And yet, I am convinced A. B. Letnev, our readings will bring the greatest benefit if collective efforts find the optimal balance between their memorial and analytical aspects. In other words - not only to read the Teacher, but also to read him more. And at the same time, his colleagues and students from the Moscow Institute of Ethnography. Miklukho-Maklaya. Together with them, he joined the Institute of Africa in 1960. The names of pioneering ethnographers who are not indifferent to Africa are also worth recalling today. These are V. B. Lutsky, S. R. Smirnov, A. S. Orlova, M. V. Wright, R.N. Ismagilova, G. A. Nersesov, and L. D. Yablochkov. Both streams - orientalists and ethnographers-were destined to

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overcome narrowly specialized barriers, connect and start a long and difficult ascent in one bundle to the heights of scientific knowledge, which continues to this day.

I. O. Golden (USA) and I. I. Filatova (Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences) discussed various aspects of the Africa Department's activities in the initial period of the Institute's existence and the current state of Russian African studies. They evaluated some trends in the evolution of the science of Africa in Russia from the perspective of foreign observers.

N. A. Dobronravin's poster report "From the History of Leningrad African Studies (1944-1955)" analyzed the formation and development of a parallel stream of Soviet/Russian science about Africa. It is primarily connected with the creation and evolution of the Department of African Studies at Leningrad University, whose founding fathers N. A. Dobronravii calls the orientalists A. P. Riftin, N. V. Yushmanov and D. A. Olderogge, who initiated the teaching of African languages at the Leningrad Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History in 1934. In a short but capacious report, the professor from St. Petersburg managed to convey the complexities of the era that affected the department's activities in various aspects, and the peculiarities of the scientific and pedagogical process at the department in the 1940s and 1950s.

A. B. Davidson summed up the results of the I. I. Potekhin Memorial Readings. Recalling that the Russian African scholar is still very young by the standards of any other science and history in general, he nevertheless drew the attention of the audience to the need to study and know her past and record modern events. Domestic science about Africa already has a history and glorious names of people who can be proud of, who are worthy of respect. "We are just their successors, and we must remember that our science was created by worthy researchers. We should maintain this continuity so that the next generation doesn't think that African studies starts with them." Complaining that so far only the Center for African Studies of the Institute of Universal History is trying to write the history of African studies and rediscover forgotten names, he called on the staff of other centers and institutes to join in the noble work of preserving the names of their predecessors in memory.

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